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Women in India are making larger individual investments in cryptocurrencies compared to men, according to one local exchange. However, men are leading the charge when it comes to sheer numbers.

Women are Bigger Spenders

Women have turned out to be the bigger spenders in India when it comes to cryptocurrency investments, according to a recent survey conducted by BuyUcoin – a local cryptocurrency exchange. The average female trader invests more than RS 1.4 lakh (roughly around $2,000) in virtual currencies, double the amount their male counterparts invest.

The exchange surveyed more than 60,000 respondents between March and June of this year. According to the BuyUcoin CEO Shivam Thakral, the increased amount of money women invest is tied to their average age:

Usually, woman investors who are buying or trading are over 40 years of age. Therefore, typically these mature investors are able to put in more money. […] On the other hand, more men start investing at an early age with the average age for this investor group being 30.

Nevertheless, in terms of pure numbers, men are leading the charts, with over 90% of the investors being male across the entire country.

The Local Cryptocurrency Environment

In April the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officially ordered regulated financial entities to refrain from providing their services to all businesses involved in cryptocurrency-related dealings. This move prompted an uproar within the community which resulted in swift counteractions from numerous companies involved in the field.

In May the country’s Supreme Court declined an interim injunction against the ban, responding to a coalition of petitioners comprised of startup companies and four cryptocurrency exchanges. At the time, RBI stated that the Supreme Court cannot interfere with the economic policies of the country.

Nevertheless, those affected by the cryptocurrency ban will challenge RBI’s decision on July 20. The bank has continued to receive mounting criticism over its anti-crypto stance. Local lawyer Varun Sethi, however, laid down the bank’s justification on the matter:

The RBI also responded that no committee was ever formed for analyzing the concept of blockchain before the decision.

This gives confidence to local lawyers currently representing the industry. Rashmi Deshpande, associate partner at Khaitan & Co said of Sethi’s information that the justification of the bank cements the arguments which the cryptocurrency industry is making on the matter:

The grounds on which our writ petition has been filed is that the RBI has not done enough research to ban a business completely.

What do you think of the cryptocurrency situation in India? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!

Venezuela is leveraging its oil wealth to shoehorn president Nicolas Maduro’s Petro cryptocurrency into foreign markets.

Coinsecure Goes For Petro?

The practice came to light following local media in India reporting Caracas had offered a 30% discount on its crude oil imports if the government paid in Petro.

At the same time, a delegation visited India in March and came to an agreement with embattled local Bitcoin exchange Coinsecure to offer the trading of Petro for Bitcoin and rupees.

By the same token, other exchanges could interact with the coin through a white label agreement, Business Standard reported on April 29.

Coinsecure CEO Mohit Kalra told the publication:

That would be run by their brand name, but the back-end will be us. We plan to provide them with 10-15 cryptocurrency players.

Kalra: Venezuela ‘Going To Different Countries’

Venezuela has seen mixed reactions to notionally oil-pegged Petro since issuing it earlier this year. From an outright ban by the US to calls from the international community that the scheme was nothing but a ploy to circumvent sanctions, Venezuela has courted controversy from the outset.

Separate claims involve Russia, which some say was instrumental in facilitating Petro’s creation.

Opening up alternative markets for trade thus comes as little surprise as Maduro attempts to live up to his original promise the coin’s market cap would be a least that of Venezuela’s oil reserves – around $5.9 billion.

Kalra explained:

They are going to different countries and making offers. The offer that they have given to the Indian government is: you buy Petro and we will give you a 30 percent discount on oil purchases.

Coinsecure meanwhile continues to face pressure following a hack of its reserves amounting to $3.5 million last month.

Its most recent update on April 29 seemed to imply that compensation payments for customers would soon begin, but that the exchange “doesn’t have much of a say” as investigations are still ongoing.

What do you think about Venezuela trading Petro with India? Let us know in the comments section below!

India may be most well known for its Taj Mahal and Golden Temple. However, it is gaining a reputation in the crypto community as a place to find an extremely affordable provider of marketing services.

Marketing can be expensive, whether in-house services or outsourcing. In the fast-moving crypto world, it will also help in determining how successful your ICO will be. This in itself is a multi-billion-dollar industry, with, according to The Times of India, almost $3 billion being raised last year.

Having similar features as the good old crowdfunding business model, ICOs first rely on making their target market aware of their platform’s services before getting them to part with their hard-earned cash or crypto. This is where the marketing part comes in, and it also seems that this is where Indian marketing agencies are coming in too.

A Different Way of Marketing

More and more crypto platforms are outsourcing their ICO-marketing needs to predominantly Indian agencies. Not only do they offer a cheaper choice, these firms are also using apps like Telegram and crypto-industry-specific platforms to market these ICOs. This is quite significant as it means that these start-ups won’t have to deal with the recent bans by Google and social media giants, Facebook and Twitter.

However, even without the bans, Salim Ali does not believe that these big corporations are the way to go anyway. Ali is the CEO of Loyakk, a “blockchain-powered enterprise relationship management platform”, with an upcoming ICO. He said:

Facebook and Google AdWords hardly generate demand (for ICOs). Only a person new to the space would be googling about it.

Growing Business

Karnika Yashwant is the CEO of Key Difference Media, a Chennai-based marketing agency. He had this to say:

Two or three months ago, there were only a few platforms that helped in advertising. Now, a company going for an ICO will have a few hundred proposals from new marketing companies that are sprouting in India.

Yashwant has provided marketing services for 14 ICOs, most of which were led by European clients.

Saving Money

In addition to crypto community groups on Telegram, ICO clients usually also choose to advertise through a range of crypto websites. In the case of the latter, Yashwant added:

For a banner in a cryptomedia website, you’d have to dish out $10,000 a week.

This is a hefty sum, but usually payable in fiat or virtual currency. However, even though an ICO could net millions, platform founders could be looking to save money in the initial stages, which could be why the more affordable option of Indian agencies could be so alluring.

What do you think of crypto platforms using cheaper Indian marketing agencies for their ICOs? Let us know in the comments below!

The Indian government talks a big talk when putting down Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but such actions has done little to curb their popularity.

Crypto-Not-Currency

In his annual budget speech today, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley once again made clear the government’s intention to halt the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in India, claiming the South Asian country does not recognize digital currency as legal tender. He states:

The government does not consider cryptocurrencies legal tender or coin, and will take all measures to curb the use of these crypto-assets in financing illegitimate activities or any part of payment systems.

However, Jaitley has said nothing about banning Bitcoin or cryptocurrency trading. In fact, he claims the government will instead encourageblockchain technology in traditional payment systems, illustrating that the Indian government does indeed see the value behind cryptocurrency, if not as legal tender.

A Long History of Doing Little

India isone of the largest markets for Bitcoin trading, with roughy 1 out of every 10 transactions worldwide taking place in the South Asian country.

The Indian government, however, has long been negative on cryptocurrencies—once evenlikening them to Ponzi schemesin a December 2017 press release that said:

Virtual Currencies (VCs) don’t have any intrinsic value and are not backed by any kind of assets. The price of Bitcoin and other VCs, therefore, is entirely a matter of mere speculation resulting in spurt and volatility in their prices. There is a real and heightened risk of investment bubble of the type seen in Ponzi schemes which can result in sudden and prolonged crash exposing investors, especially retail consumers losing their hard-earned money. Consumers need to be alert and extremely cautious as to avoid getting trapped in such Ponzi schemes.

Still, little has been done to actually curb the trading and use of cryptocurrencies in India, outside of official statements.

The Reserve Bank of India claims to have cautioned cryptocurrency investors three times since December 2013, claiming individuals are putting themselves at financial, operational, and legal risks, in addition to compromising their security. Some Indian banks have alsoprovisionally shut down accountsfor top Indian exchanges.

Nevertheless, hundreds of thousands of new Indian accounts are added to exchanges every month, and there’s little reason to assume Jaitley’s statement will have a significant effect—at least for now.

What do you think about the Indian government’s tough talk on cryptocurrencies? Do you think its claim to not recognize them as legal tender will have any effect on the market? Let us know in the comments below!

A group of six individuals in New Delhi, India, have been arrested by the police for robbing people that they had convinced were buying Bitcoin with actual cash.

Just when you think it’s safe to buy Bitcoin and other digital currencies, you hear horror stories about being robbed in some sort of online scam or Ponzi scheme. The decentralized nature of cryptocurrency means that those looking to get involved in it must do their due diligence and always be aware of potential risks. However, such situations are a far cry from what some people in New Delhi, India, experienced as they were robbed while attempting to buy Bitcoin from some unscrupulous people.

What Can Go Wrong Buying Bitcoin with Cash from Strangers?

Police in New Delhi, India, arrested a gang of six individuals who had targeted people interested in buying Bitcoin. The leader of the group is Aditya Rajput, who is a law graduate from Dehradun. Overall, police recovered numerous SIM cards, eight mobile phones, jewelry, and lakhs of rupees in cash (lakhs are the equivalent of one hundred thousand rupees). A spokesman for the New Delhi police described how the crimes would go down thusly:

This module used to contact interested party through phone calls and Facebook messages and convinced the buyers to deal in cash for buying the Bitcoin. Once, they convinced the buyer and called them to the designated place, the other gang members would came into action…and…would then rob the victim.

So far, the police have identified seven victims of this Bitcoin robbery scam.

Bitcoin Rising in India

It’s understandable for individuals in India to be interested in Bitcoin. The economy was thrown into some turmoil last year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to ban the two largest banknotes in the country to fight terrorism, corruption, and tax evaders. This move had a huge impact upon everyday life for Indians as the amount of money in circulation was drastically curtailed and the amount available to be withdrawn from ATMs was severely cut as well. This led to a noticeable increase in the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Bollywood has endorsed digital currencies, and the government is now actually considering issuing an official Indian cryptocurrency of its own.

That being said, it does seem remarkably foolish to physically meet someone to trade cash for some Bitcoin. The person making the criminal complaint first wanted to purchase Bitcoin through a website but was lured to a meeting in a mall (from where he was then kidnapped) where he was supposed to be able to buy Bitcoin at the rate of roughly $1,100 USD per Bitcoin. One would say that getting a Bitcoin for a percentage of the current market rate would be a red flag. Having to meet someone in person while carrying at least a thousand dollars in cash to undertake the transaction should have thrown up some more red flags. However, greed often wins out, but at least those robbed did not suffer more dire consequences.

What do you think about the robberies of potential Bitcoin buyers in New Delhi, India? Would you meet with someone with a lot of cash under such circumstances? Let us know in the comments below.

India could legalize Bitcoin in the near future as feedback from citizens and businesses appears to be in support of regulating virtual currencies.

India’s Gov’t Asks Public About Virtual Currencies

The online comments section, which is to run for 10 days, has already received nearly 4,000 submissions since it was launched on May 21st.

The areas polled are: whether Virtual Currencies (VCs) should be banned, regulated or observed? In case VCs are suggested to be regulated, then what measures should be taken to ensure consumer protection, promote development and also which institution should be monitoring and regulating them?

It goes on to also ask what would be effective self regulatory mechanisms, and the methods which should be adopted to ensure consumer protection in these scenarios.

Feedback From Citizens & Organizations

Most comments are brief, but they do represent a generally positive opinion of Bitcoin and virtual currencies in general with some encouraging everyone to profit via taxation.

For example, one person commented:

Bitcoin, Blockchain is the future of finance, administration, governance, markets, IT etc. This technology has huge potential for a growing country like India. India should follow Japan, embrace this technology without introducing road blocks. If India put regulatory burden on it, it will not limit the technology but will keep India isolated from its benefits. Like internet, tech will grow irrespective. We have choice to embrace, or be left behind..

Another person said that government regulation will help reduce corruption and black market trade as well as proving useful for the economy as a whole.

Tarkesh Tambulkar wrote:

Bitcoin is the future of India, it is also increases the tax of Indian government. So it should be regulated

“Bitcoin regulatory should improve economical growth in India, crypto currency makes digital India to reduce poverty in future it will reduce corruption and black money if government takes action to make bitcoin is legal and regulated,” added Melika Rajarao

Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd also weighed in, commenting:

We propose that Bitcoin be accepted as legal financial instrument in India and the regulations be governed under a separate ‘Virtual Currency Act’. The adoption of virtual currency should be encouraged in India since Blockchain technologies are now considered to be the future of electronic financial transactions. A very strong impetus to legalize virtual currency is its potential to drastically reduce corruption, shrink transaction costs and eliminate third party involvement.

There are some dissenting voices too, who call for the currency to be banned outright.

“We must impose ban on all kind of cryptocurrency at the earliest. It should be made illegal Gready indians [sic] have already invested their hard earned money and they are going to lose their money very soon,” wrote Manish Rai.

Overall, the responses appear to be in favor of “legalizing” Bitcoin via regulation, with other commentators seeing it as beneficial to the technological growth of the country, as well as staying in line with international trends like in Japan.

9 of 10 New Internet Users Will Be Indian

It is important to also consider India’s unique position, and the type of citizen who would actually be commenting online. India is a developing country with much of its internet activity currently done in English, relating as much to infrastructural barriers as much as language ones. What’s more is many only connect via their mobile phones.

These issues were explored in a report conducted by the consulting firm KPMG India and Google exploring the use of the Internet in the country.

“80% of Indian language internet users face challenges in using English keyboards. About 55% of the users find the high cost and limited internet access as key barrier for using the Internet regularly,” the report states.

There is positive news though, as the country would seem to be overtaking China in terms of new internet adoption.

“In the last few years, the rapid scale of adoption of Internet across the country has set the ball rolling and today Indian language users have already overtaken the total number of English language users on the Internet in India,” the report notes.

The report forecasts that digital payments, online government services and e-tailing will see the fastest growth in adoption by Indian language users.

Bitcoin is gaining a lot traction in India. Bitcoinist spoke with Sunny Ray, co-founder of India’s Bitcoin exchange UnoCoin, to better understand what is fueling this growing trend in the country.

Bitcoin Goes Mainstream in India

Bitcoin is going places. After conquering China and catapulting it to the front line of Bitcoin’s trading and mining sector, it is now starting to get traction in other countries like Japan and South Korea.

Now, Bitcoin is also showing signs of a growing adoption rate in India, a country that has been deeply impacted by the demonetization policies implemented.

A look at yesterday’sTimes of Indiapublication shows that Bitcoin is featured on the front page. The publication tells the story of a man who unknowingly exchanged, what would now be, a Bitcoin fortune for extra lives on an online game, something that he obviously regrets.

The article also provides some facts about the cryptocurrency, its price, and regulatory standing. It also mentions the Interdisciplinary Committee created to assess the current state of existing global regulatory and legal structures as a means to apply the best regulatory framework possible for Bitcoin in India.

The paper reads:

Finance ministry has set up a committee that will look at global regulatory frameworks for Bitcoin and suggest measures for India.

Bitcoin adoption in the country can be seen, not just in media reports, but also in the data provided by Unocoin, India’s most popular Bitcoin Exchange. Co-founder Sunny Ray recently noted that:

It took 2 years and 10 months for Unocoin to reach 100,000 users. It only took another 6 months to reach 200,000 users.

Why is Bitcoin Booming in India?

Bitcoin’s received a lot of attention after the demonetization policies that saw India’s highest denomination banknotes removed from the economy were implemented in November 2016.

Since then, however, much has changed. Unocoin’s Sunny Ray explained what’s fueling Bitcoin’s growing popularity in the country:

We think it’s less to do with demonetization and more to do with its underlying benefits. The uses range from: store of value is the number one use case (digital gold), second is inward remittance (as opposed to losing 4 days and 10% in fees), p2p payments, buying things online (mobile top up, etc), and it keeps going.

Furthermore, it’s not just Unocoin that is seeing an increasing adoption in Bitcoin within the country.

“We conclude that, while the demonetization itself may have been a catalyst for Bitcoin’s growth in India, it simply revealed one of the many advantages that Bitcoin brings, in this case, the lack of centralized control and the superior privacy provided by the cryptocurrency,” he added.

India’s Government is Studying Bitcoin

Earlier this month, the Indian government established an Interdisciplinary Committee chaired by various institutions like the country’s central bank and ministry of home affairs.

The committee’s main functions are

to take stock of the present status of virtual currencies (VCs) in and outside of India;

examine existing global regulatory and legal structures for VCs;

suggest measures for dealing with such VCs including issues relating to consumer protection, money laundering, etc;

and to examine any other matter related to VCs that may be considered as relevant.

The committee is expected to release a report on its findings by July of this year.

It is unclear what changes the committee will bring about but Ray hopes that the creation of this organization will help citizens better understand virtual currencies, their benefits and risks.

Ray told Bitcoinist:

Our only hope is to try and educate the public. We are working with the best law firm in the country. The same law firm that’s helped to establish the largest self regulatory body in India, they helped enable payment processing and ecommerce to emerge and many many other seemingly disruptive change to the country: Nishith Desai & Associates. All we can do is try. And the fact that some journalists in India are writing sensationalist articles to pry on people’s fears is not helping the cause.

The “largest self regulatory body in India” mentioned by Ray is the Digital Asset and Blockchain Foundation of India (DABFI). The self-regulatory body is comprised of Bitcoin startups in the country such as Unocoin, Zebpay, Coinsecure, and Searchtrade.

The organization will focus on creating standard guidelines for trading blockchain based assets, KYC/AML and STR norms, while collaborating with regulators, creating awareness about the benefits and risks of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, and producing an environment that will stimulate the creation of other blockchain startups. DABFI will also publish reports regarding cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.

Will the new Interdisciplinary Committee help advance Bitcoin’s adoption in the country? Let us know in the comment section!

India is the scene of conflicting reports over Bitcoin’s legality following suspicious statements from the government.

Minister: Virtual Currencies Lack ‘Regulatory Approval’

On Tuesday,Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwalsaidthat use of virtual currencies “couldsubject the users to unintentional breaches of anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism laws.”

On the creation of virtual currencies, the bank spokesman added that “No regulatory approval, registration or authorization is stated to have been obtained by the entities concerned for carrying on such activities.”

While not explicitly stating that virtual currencies such as Bitcoin were therefore not legally sanctioned, reports suggested that such a message was implied.

The local Bitcoin industry was quick to dispute such conclusions. Indian exchange Zebpay published a dedicated response to the episode in which it stated its belief that Bitcoin in India “is not illegal.”

Nothing has changed regarding bitcoin’s legal status in India this week. In our opinion, bitcoin is not illegal. Bitcoin is legal under all existing laws. It’s business as usual at all Indian bitcoin exchanges, including Zebpay.

Nonetheless, a word of caution accompanied the rebuttal.

“As per media reports, inter-ministerial committee has been setup to study the legality of bitcoins. They will give a response on 20th April 2017,” an update announced.

Bad Actors Give A Bad Name

Recent illicit use of Bitcoin by scam actors was widely reported in the media, with Zebpay commenting at the time that such parties posed a persistent problem to uneducated consumers.

A forgiving perspective was also given to the minister, the exchange taking the stance that regulators were trying to “protect” the public.

“A respectable MP raised the issue that bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme. Certain sections of the media reported this as if bitcoin has been declared illegal,” it summarized.

Additionally, Bitcoin is considered a commodity and falls in the Neutral/Alegal bracket, according to information portal Coin.dance.

India’s Bitcoin ecosystem had seen a surge in usage following the country’s sudden currency reforms introduced in November last year.

Zebpay and fellow exchanges witnessed record trading, part of a wave of Bitcoin interest, which even saw the market become the second largest on Purse.io’s Amazon discount platform behind the US.

Blockchain innovation is also active locally, with crypto investor Tim Draper in February announcing his return to the Indian market, injecting venture capital through the newly acquired Blume Ventures.

What do you think about India’s current stance on virtual currencies? Let us know in the comments below!

Future Money Conference (India) 2016 is organized by Asian School of Cyber Laws (ASCL). Born in 1999, ASCL is a global pioneer in cyber law & cyber crime investigation and works with Governments, Corporates, and Enforcement agencies across the world.

The financial turmoil wreaking havoc throughout the world is leaving most countries trying to figure out where to go from here. One country that is not encumbered by any of these issues is India, as they are gaining a lot from other countries’ issues. Low oil prices and a growing interest in the Indian stock market paint an interesting picture of how this corner of the world might be getting ready for a financial revolution.

Why India Is Booming

It may sound rather strange in this day and age, but India is one of the very few countries where the economy is growing. Even though the local stock market may have taken a slight bump in recent weeks, things are looking quite positive on a grand scale. In fact, India remains the world’s fastest-growing major economy, with a GDP growth of 7% per year.

However, it is important to keep in mind India has somewhat of an unfair advantage over other countries in the world. Keeping in mind how the average income is still very low, there simply is a lot more room to grow. In fact, India has five times the room to grow compared to China, and 40 times the room compared to the United States.

Furthermore, the demographics in India play a significant role in the process as well. With roughly 600 million people under the age of 27, the future generation of earners is just around the corner. Keeping in mind how a lot of these individuals are very tech-savvy as well, interesting things are bound to happen in the country over the next few years.

But other decisions play a key factor in this process as well. The country resorted to coal for generating energy, rather than looking at oil or other options. Granted, this is not the healthiest solution available, but it is by far the cheapest. With solar energy solutions reaching parity with coal prices in the not so distant future, setting up solar plants becomes a lot more attractive all of a sudden.

For years, people have been criticising India for moving slowly in critical areas such as healthcare, banking, and retail. At the same time, this last-mover advantage can prove to be very beneficial to the country, as they can reap the rewards of international research and development conducted in these industries. However, only time will tell whether or not these decisions will play out in a positive manner.

Growing Interest in Bitcoin Can Be Beneficial

While traditional solutions are only one part of the future, India is well-known of their mobile commerce boom as well. Consumers are skipping credit card payments altogether and move from cash payments to their mobile counterparts. Bitcoin could play an important role in this regard as it allows for frictionless mobile payments in foreign and international markets.

India is home to several Bitcoin exchanges, such as Unocoin and BTCXIndia. Additionally, the LocalBitcoins market is rather active in the country, with plenty of buyers and sellers looking to trade Bitcoin on a daily basis. It remains a mystery whether or not Bitcoin can make a big impact in India though.

What are your thoughts on the financial situation in India? Let us know in the comments below!